Gundam SEED: Journey
by Shadows of Vanity
Summary: Adopted from my other account, Invictusunum. When Ailyn Custos, real name Ailyn Elseman, came as the Le Creuset Teams spy to Heliopolis, she hadn't planned on making friends with Naturals. She hadn't planned to meet Kira Yamato. And she sure as hell hadn't planned to fall in love with him. A rewrite of Gundam Seed, and eventually Seed Destiny.Eventual KY/LC/OFC, CYA/AZ, and DE/MH.
1. The False Peace

Hey, ShadowsofVanity here, I decided to take this story over from my previous account, InvictusUnum. The first couple of chapters are as they were then, and so really short, but later chapters will be appropriately long.

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Gundam SEED: Journey

Phase One

The False Peace

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_It is the year 70 of the Cosmic Era, and tensions are rising between Earth and the ZAFT organization. Due to the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, these tensions exploded into an all-out war. It seemed a foregone conclusion that the Earth Alliance, with it's superior numbers, would be victorious. However, these initial assessments proved false. Almost eleven months have passed since the conflict began, with no end in sight..._

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The Space Colony of Heliopolis

It was, as usual, warm and sunny in the park near the high school, and students walked the paths, played games, or simply lay sprawled in the grass, talking gossiping cheerfully back and forth. Some, pleasantly tired from their antics, crawled under shady trees and napped comfortably, alone or with their significant others for company. Laughter and cheering permeated the warm air, adding a sense of carefree joy to the air, the kind that will sneak up on you and bring a smile to your face with ease and without warning. Over them all soared a small, green robotic bird, the head of which was slowly turning back and forth as it scanned the people on the ground, clearly looking for someone. Apparently seeing who it was looking for, it dived, zeroing in on one of the many gazebos that were scattered about on the park. Back-winging, it settled onto the top of a laptop computer. The aforementioned laptop belonged to one Kira Yamato, a tall 15 year old, who was dressed in a black shirt and pale green pants. Relatively long brunette hair didn't hide his amethyst eyes, but was just long enough to get in the way as he tried to type. Beside him sat another teen, a beautiful young woman with gold-honey colored skin and blond hair which partially hid her pale purple eyes. Both of them were focused on their work, one hand holding a sheaf of papers while the other danced across their keyboards in a rapid and steady tempo. She was dressed in blue jeans and a vibrant tie-dye T-shirt. Both teens chatted easily and relaxed, not getting distracted from their work in the least by any discussion.

"Heyyy! Kirrraaaaa!" a youthful male voice yelled. "Aiiilyynnn!"

Both teens looked up and spotted two other teens coming towards them across the grass.

"Hey Tolle, Mir. What are you guys up too?" Kira asked as he smiled up at his friends. Tolle Koenig and Miriallia Haw had been together since the sixth grade, and it didn't seem likely for anything to change. Moreover, it had been Tolle and Mir who had gotten Kira and Ailyn Custos (Kira's companion in the Gazebo) to realize their mutual attraction to one another and actually helped prod them into a relationship. Long story short, Kira had been poked and prodded incessantly by his friends, Tolle and Mir the most, into asking her out, but he had hemmed and hawed for so long that they had decided to...manipulate circumstances to give him a little help. All or Kira's friends loved him dearly. He was kind, smart, and always willing to do anything for a friend, no matter how risky, but he was shy and pessimistic when it came to people he didn't know. Finally, Tolle and Mir had faked a pair of love letters, forging Kira's and Ailyn's handwriting, and placed them in the pair's lockers. When they had met, each thinking it was the other's idea, and figured out what had happened, they had been highly embarrassed. Kira had attempted to flee immediately, but Ailyn had grabbed him and kissed him. Needless to say, Kira slowed way down long enough for Ailyn to tell him that she really did like him. They had started dating, and the first thing they did was plot revenge on Tolle and Mir, a cause in which they succeeded in brilliantly. While they had been embarrassed and exacted their revenge, they had secretly thanked their friends for helping them to break the ice. That had been almost sixth months ago, and now Ailyn, or "Lyn", was a welcome and integrated member of what had now become known as The Gang.

"Oh, Professor Kato is looking for you again. He told us to bring you two too him right away." Tolle replied easily, looking at a newsreel on Kira's screen. "Something on the war?"

"Yeah, Taiwan, apparently." Kira said maximizing the screen. A man in a suit with a microphone stood in a city. Two GINNs were in the background, with gunshots and screams that were easily audible in the distance.

"I am within 7 kilometers of Kaohsiung, where the sounds of fierce combat continue to echo!" the reporter said over the din.

"If this is footage from last week, they may have already taken over Kaohsiung!" Tolle said, and Kira nodded.

"Yeah…" he said, closing his laptop and starting to pack up.

"Kaohsiung isn't very far from us, is it? Will the Homeland be alright?" Mir asked, sounding worried.

"Birdy!" said the green robotic bird, taking off from Kira's shoulder.

"Sure!" Tolle said, smiling reassuringly at his girlfriend. "There is nothing to worry about! Oh, they're close by, but our nation is neutral. Can't see Orb turning into a warzone!"

"Really? Then…I guess we're okay." Mir said slowly, sounding somewhat reassured.

Kira watched Birdy fly in circle's, waiting for him, and remembered when he had gotten it…

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Start of Flashback

_Kira and Athrun stood on a path through a park, cherry blossoms blowing past in the brisk wind._

_"The PLANTS and Earth will see eye to eye." Athrun had said confidently. "There will be no war." Athrun held out his hands to Kira, who returned the gesture. A small, green robotic bird jumped from Athrun's palms to Kira's. "The evacuation doesn't mean a thing. You'll join me later at the PLANTs, right Kira?"  
_

End of Flashback

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_Athrun, how wrong you were. Where are you know, how are you, and what are you doing?_Kira thought, still watching Birdy.

"Kira?" said Tolle, sticking his face in front of Kira's with a look that said he had been trying to get Kira's attention for a while and was trying to decide if Kira had fallen asleep or something.

"Waugh!" Kira cried, flailing backwards from his friend's suddenly close face.

"Seriously, what's up with you anyway?" Tolle asked, rolling his eyes as he straightened up while Ailyn and Mir giggled at Kira's antics. "Let's go."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Kira said, finishing packing Ailyn's things as well as his.

"Kira, I'm perfectly capable of getting my own stuff, you know!" she said, the mock severity of her tone ruined by the smile on her face.

Kira just smiled a little shyly at her and held out his hand to here in a mixed offering for her to take it and for her to join them. Smiling easily back at him, Ailyn reached out to take his hand, but stopped when a beeping sound was heard. All four teens automatically checked their phones. Tolle, Mir, and Kira put theirs away, all declaring it wasn't them, but Ailyn was staring at her phone in appalled shock.

"Lyn? What's wrong?" Kira said instantly, seeing the look on his girlfriend's face. He started towards her, but she stepped away rapidly, shaking her head hard.

"N...nothing." she said, although it was obvious that something was wrong. "Listen, umm…I need to go make a call." She continued, turning and running the other way, yelling over her shoulder that she would catch up later. The three teens that she had left behind looked after her, confused and deeply concerned.

"Is it just me, or did she look scared?" Kira murmured, eyes following her until she was out of sight.

"Yeah, but you know her, Kira. She is best left alone at first when she is like this." Mir said gently, and Kira nodded in reluctant agreement. He had plenty of experience with his girlfriends sporadic and sometimes worrying bouts of isolationism.

"Okay, let's head over to the Proff's. I'm late as it is." he said finally, leading his friends to the taxi stop.

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Meanwhile, Ailyn had found a secluded spot in the forested section of the park. Reaching into her bag, she took out a small case, containing a small screen and camera, which she opened and placed on the ground, after flipping a small power switch inside of it. Pulling out her phone, she flipped it open and entered a few numbers before putting it to her ear. The screen in the box flashed to life, showing a young man.

"Code in, please." His voice said from her phone, and Ailyn, now no longer sounding like a carefree and happy student with a boyfriend, spoke in cold, hard tones.

"Coding in. I.D. number ZF-1183XV41Z. ZAFT Special Agent…Ailyn Elsman, reporting in." she said, saluting.

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That's the first original chapter done.


	2. Secrets of Heliopolis

A/N: Second Chapter that was previously published.

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Gundam SEED: Journey

Phase 2

The Secret's of Heliopolis

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_Previously: Kira, Miriallia, Tolle, and Ailyn are introduced to us. Ailyn is shown to be a ZAFT spy and we receive our first glimpse of Rau Le Creuset._

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"Code in acknowledged. Ailyn Elsman of the Le Creuset team. Commander Le Creuset will be with you shortly. Stand by." Ailyn nodded and the screen blanked. She nibbled on her lip, waging a mental war. She had already betrayed her home enough as it is, and she was averse to doing it more, but to not betray her home and friends would mean that she would have to betray her brother and ZAFT. Unless….perhaps she could tell the Commander only about the units she had already reported, but not the others? After that, she could simply…disappear. Go to Orb, get a new name, then come back in a while and rejoin the others. Her brother would be in no extra danger, and her friends would never discover her secret. She nodded to herself, her decision made, and waited for the Commander.

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On the bridge of the _Vesalius_, the communications technician turned away from his console to face a tall man with blond hair who wore the white and black uniform of a ZAFT commander. Over the upper half of his face, he wore a white mask.

"Sir, Agent Elsman is on the line, as per you communications order. Shall I patch her through to your terminal?" he asked, and the blond masked man shook his head.

"No, just put her onto the main screen for the bridge." He replied, and the comm. tech nodded. Tapping a few keys, he patch Ailyn's signal through to the large screen above the viewport on the bridge.

Down in Heliopolis, Ailyn blinked. From what she could tell, the entire bridge could see-and hear-her. She saluted to the camera, and Le Creuset returned the salute.

"Report, Ailyn." He ordered, and she lowered her hand, but remained at parade rest.

"Yes sir. I have only to report that the Mobile Suits being built here were still in their hangers five hours ago, although I have reason to believe that they will be getting moved very soon. The Earth Forces may have already begun transferring them over to the Assault Ship that is being constructed here as well. At this time, I know where the ship is, so eliminating it should be simple. I am sending you the relevant data now."

"Excellent. Well done. The team is suiting up now, and should be ready to take all six machines after they eliminate the spaceship. The operation will commence in 45 minutes. Make sure you are someplace safe. Our people will find you after things cool down and smuggle you out."

"Yes sir, thank you sir. Operation commences in 45 minutes. I understand!" Ailyn replied, appearing to be every inch the willing and loyal soldier.

Le Creuset nodded a dismissal and shut down the link. He sat in his chair and smiled to himself. He had been waiting for so long, manipulating the world, and now it was time. Time for the curtain to rise on his little play.

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Ailyn, on the other hand, was leaning against a tree and crying. She hated this. She had already decided to betray her nation, but it was too late. She had less than an hour to try and protect her friends, evade detection, and somehow not get picked up by ZAFT. She felt so lost. At first, she had hated everything about this place, everything it represented. The stars were for the Coordinators, not lowly Naturals, and especially not a bunch of Naturals to cowardly to pick a side, instead insisting on remaining _"Neutral"_. Then Miriallia had approached her. Surprised, Ailyn had rebuffed her offers of friendship, rather aggressively and rudely. Far from being put off, however, Mir had simply seen it as a challenge, and had wormed her way past the barriers in Lyn's heart. Before Lyn knew what had happened, they had become friends, and Mir was bringing her along when what she called "The Gang" hung out. There she had met Kira, and Tolle, and Kuzzey, and Sai, and even Flay. They had all accepted her with ease, and she had found it so strange that a bunch of Naturals would be so friendly. With amusing ease, they had destroyed all of her ridiculous misconceptions about Naturals and about Orb itself. Peace, she realized, was an amazing thing. The peace that came from Neutrality, and the lack of conflict, was something to be admired and envied.

Then, the last thing she would have expected happened. She had started to fall for Kira. She hadn't tried to, didn't want to, and didn't even realize that it was happening, but by the time she did, she couldn't have stopped it even if she had wanted to. She expressed her feelings to Mir, who had not reacted as expected. Instead of being annoyed or overprotective of her friend, or using it as gossip, she had rolled her eyes, said that it was about time, and helped her to figure out how to, as she put it, "land him." Lyn didn't know how she felt about treating Kira like some sort of fish, but she had appreciated the support. One thing had followed another, and they had started dating. Then it struck her how bad it could be if anyone back in the PLANTs found out that she was dating a Natural. Her brother and his friend Yzak would raise nine kinds of hell if they found out, and she knew that her superiors would assume that she was compromised. Then, quite by accident, she had found out that Kira was actually a First Generation Coordinator. She had been the happiest girl alive; because that meant that she and Kira could be together without any…repercussions. She had hoped to get him to join ZAFT eventually, especially since she could see that he had extraordinary abilities, even among Coordinators, but he had been violently opposed to both sides when she asked him which side he supported. He had declared his distaste for killing and war in general and rightfully pointed out that he and his friends were obvious evidence for the point that Naturals and Coordinators could get along, and even be close friends. Ailyn had to admit, his reasoning was very strong, and she agreed with him. But now…he would hate her when he found out, she was sure of it… She dashed away her tears angrily. This wasn't the time to feel sorry for herself. Even if he ended up hating her, she was going to follow this path all the way to the end. She pushed herself off of the tree and, pausing only long enough to push a button in the small comm. case, walked away. Behind her, unwanted and abandoned, the comm. case sat on the ground. A few seconds later, with a small explosion, it shattered into a thousand pieces, leaving no trace except a small scorch mark on the grass.

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Morgenroete Factory District-Professor Kato's Office.

Ailyn walked through the double doors leading into Professor Kato's office, and stopped, surprised. Everyone in The Gang, except for Flay, was there. A girl with blond hair that no one seemed to know, since no one was talking to her, stood in the corner. Kira was busy talking to two people that Ailyn didn't recognize, a girl with long midnight-black hair and a boy with spiky blond hair. It was obvious that he knew them, and knew them well. Seeing Kuzzey, who was standing against the wall, alone and the closest of the group who wasn't busy, she sidled up next to him and whispered:

"Hey Kuzzey."

"Hey Lyn, you alright? Kira, Mir, and Tolle told us you looked scared earlier. Kira wanted to go looking for you, but Mir stopped him." Kuzzey murmured back.

"It…it was nothing. It's fine now." Lyn whispered, relieved that her friend had stopped Kira. "Who's the blond chick, and more importantly, who are those two, and how do they know Kira?"

"A pair of old friends apparently. They know Kira from when they all lived back on the Moon. They were here when he arrived. He was pretty surprised, to say the least. The blond is apparently the Proff's guest, and was told to wait here."

"Guess Kira is a pretty popular guy, huh?" Ailyn murmured to herself, eyeing the girl as she smiled at Kira, but unfortunately for her Kuzzey noticed both the words and the look, and chuckled softly.

"I wouldn't worry about her, Lyn. She and the blond guy are together. Besides, we all know that Kira would never look at another girl. _You_ should know that."

Ailyn blushed, not only at having got caught in the act of jealousy, but at the fact that she had been worried about it in the first place. She knew Kira wasn't like that, and now that she looked closely, Kuzzey was right. The way that the girl and the male blond interacted and the way they stood around each other was clearly in a romantic way, while the way they interacted with Kira was more of a sibling-esque attitude. Just then Kira noticed her standing over by the door, half hidden behind Kuzzey.

"Lyn, come over here, I need to introduce you!" he called, and she blushed as she walked over and Kira planted a kiss on her cheek before wrapping an arm around her and facing the other couple.

"Guys, this is Ailyn. Ailyn, this black haired devil is Faith London. Be careful around her, she's a tomboy and a beast." Kira said, before yelping as Faith smacked him upside the head.

"Quiet fool! You may give her the wrong impression!" she said with a smirk. "I ought to beat ya!"

"You already did, and she doesn't need me to give her a bad impression, you can do that by yourself." Kira muttered, rubbing the side of his head. "That hurt!"

"Aye, Kira. Ye should have known better than to say such things with the Wildcat around." The blond grinned, his thick Scottish brogue making his words almost indecipherable. "Pleased to meet you, Ailyn. The name is Cu Hawke."

"I'll show you "Wildcat" later, you big lout." growled Faith, and Cu just wiggled his eyebrows at her.

"Do you promise, love?" he relied cheekily.

Faith blushed a fascinating shade of scarlet before laughing. Looping her arms around Cu's neck she gave him a prolonged kiss. Ailyn, thoroughly bewildered, looked at Kira, her eyes questioning, and he nodded with a wide grin.

"Yeah, that's just the way they are. They've been like that forever, so you might as well get used to it."

"How long is forever? They seem extremely close." Asked Ailyn, as the other couple had yet to come up for air.

"7 years or so. They may not act like it, but these two idiots are in their early 20's. Anyway, they were just telling me that they moved up here just a week ago. They've been living in Orb for some time now. Evidently, they found out that I lived up here, and decided to join me."

"Aye, just like old times." Cu said, as he and Faith finally broke apart. "And it doesn't look like you had any trouble building up another entourage, have you now?"

"It's not like that, Cu, and you know it." Kira said, frowning at his old friend, but Cu just smirked.

"You have always been the one who has people following him. You're just one of those easygoing, leader-types. Might as well get used to it."

"I don't want to." Kira muttered a little petulantly, and all three of his companions laughed.

Ailyn smiled, but her smile faded quickly. Elsewhere, at this moment, she knew that ZAFT soldiers were preparing to attack. She had to get started.

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Elsewhere in Heliopolis, six ZAFT redcoats and 12 regular greens flew down a ventilation shaft on their backpack thrusters. Coming to a four way intersection, the lead redcoat held up a closed fist. As his fellow reds gathered around him, he looked down through a grating at the large white warship in the secret hanger beneath them. Looking up, the leader made several hand signals to his fellows, and the entire group split up, spreading out and planting explosive charges at key points around the hanger.

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Outside Heliopolis

"It's time." Rau said simply, gesturing towards Heliopolis.

"Aye, aye!" Captain Ades replied, rotating his command chair forward. "Weigh anchor! _Vesalius, _moving out!"

The two ZAFT warships activated their powerful main engines, coming around the asteroid at high speed. GINNs shot out of their hanger, activating their thrusters and rocketing towards the colony.

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Heliopolis Control Room

"Chief Controller!" yelled a tech over the whooping alarm.

"Calm down! Cut of that alarm!" the Chief Controller ordered, grabbing a headset from a nearby worker. "Approaching ZAFT vessels, cease your advance at once! Your actions are in a direct violation of you treaty with our nation! I repeat, ZAFT vessels, cease your advance at once!"

"Sir, electrical interference emanating from the "ZAFT vessels"!" reported the man the Controller had taken the headset from. "This is clearly a hostile act!"

"Damn it all! Launch the defense drones, before they take the harbor over!" the Chief Controller said, trying to keep himself together.

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The Bridge of a _Marseille-III_ class transport ship of the Earth Forces

"What's the situation?" asked Lieutenant Mu La Flaga as he flew onto the bridge.

"Two ships, _Nazca_- and _Laurasia_-class. We confirmed the launching of mobile suits prior to the commencing of jamming interference."

"Have Luke and Gale board their Moebius units, but don't have them launch yet!" Mu ordered, heading for the door. "I'm launching too!"

Within moments, Mu was climbing into his Moebius Zero's cockpit. Strapping in, he started to bring it online.

"Lieutenant La Flaga?" the captain asked, clearing asking for further instructions.

"Launch the ship, the harbor is about to be taken over." He said, before switching to his flight's channel. "Gale, Luke, you two _stay together and cover each other_! If it gets too bad, retreat! Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir! We understand sir!" they replied in unison, and Mu grunted in approval.

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Secret Hanger Complex: Control Room

"Captain! What do we do?" shouted an Earth Forces officer.

"Calm down! If we launch, we will be playing right into their hands!" The Captain said sternly. "Let Heliopolis handle this!"

As the timers clicked down to 4:26 left before detonation, the ZAFT team flew at increasing speeds down the ventilation shaft, knowing that they were running out of time.

Back in the control room, the Captain was busy conversing with someone on the phone.

"Yes, I know!" he said firmly. "We're prepared to launch if we have to!" he slammed the phone back down, then turned to a black haired women in the uniform of an Ensign, and a blue haired man in the uniform of a Chief Petty Officer. "Ensign Badgiruel, you and Chief Neumann get Lieutenant Ramius for me, and commence transfer of the G-weapons!"

"Sir!" they saluted and flew away, headed for the central shaft.

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_Vesalius's _Bridge

"We will move in as soon as we eliminate the mining operations." Rau ordered softly.

"Yessir!" confirmed the pilot as defense drones started launching from the colony.

As the counters hit 19 seconds, the ZAFT pilots were almost at their target. The Earth Forces convoy moved ever onward, carrying their precious cargo to the ship. All throughout the colony, the people of Heliopolis went about their lives. Innocent, carefree and happy, they had no idea how much their realities were about to get shattered. People shopped, children played in the park, Kira attempted to fix a malfunctioning robot suit with Tolle inside as everyone else laughed.

Then, in an instant, it was over. The charges detonated, washing over the ship in waves of fire. Two charges detonated on either side of the control booth for the hidden hanger, and the Captain barely had time to scream before he and everyone else inside the booth was consumed.

Natarle Badgiruel looked behind her at the sound, and didn't even have time to yell out before the shockwave swept down the shaft, picking her up like a doll and throwing her into the wall, knocking her unconscious instantly.

All the students stumbled as the building suddenly rocked sideways.

"What was that?" Sai cried. "A meteoroid?"

_Damn it all, it's started. I have to get everyone out of here!_ Ailyn thought desperately. _But how? I had wanted to have them near the shelters beforehand! It might be too dangerous to head there now!_

All of a sudden, the blond girl ran out the door and down a side hallway that lead straight to the factories.

"Hey, hold it!" Kira shouted, charging after her.

"Kira! Come back!" Ailyn shouted, but the loving, protective fool simply yelled over his shoulder that they had to get to the shelters, and he would deal with the blond. Moments later, the floor collapsed behind him, cutting off any chance of them following him.

"Sai, Tolle, Kuzzey, you three take Mir to the shelters. We three are going after Kira. That fool needs someone to watch his back!" Cu ordered, and the others nodded.

"Wait, what about you guys?" Mir shouted as she was pulled away.

"Don't you worry about us; we know a thing or two about this place!" Faith called out, before shutting the door. "Now, anyone know a parallel route to the area?" She looked straight at Lyn, and raised her eyebrows.

"I…yes, I do." She said, leading them over to a door marked "KATO" on the far wall, near where the blond had been standing. She tried the handle, only for it to be locked. "Can you guys open this?"

"Leave it to me!" said Cu, pushing her aside gently. He took a deep breath, and then lashed one foot out in a powerful blow. His foot connected with the door, which smashed off of the hinges and fell down the stairs the door had concealed. "Good thing I didn't ram it with my shoulder. I would need the hospital." He said, staring down the steep staircase.

"C'mon, there are some things down here that can help us protect Heliopolis, and Kira." Ailyn said, pushing past him and starting down the stairs.

"Oh? You mean the GAT-X030 Werewolf, the GAT-X911 Assault, and the GAT-X231 Renegade?" Faith said, and Ailyn stumbled slightly in shock. "Are those what you're talking about, Miss Ailyn Elsman, ZAFT pilot and spy?"

Ailyn froze in horror. _They knew!_

"How did you know?" she asked in a strangely flat voice, and they laughed.

"Kira doesn't know this, but Cu and I work for the Orb Special Forces. We were sent up here to pilot the Werewolf and the Assault, which were being built secretly for the Orb military. As for you, Orb's intelligence division is exceptional."

"Are you going to tell…Kira?" she whispered.

"No, but answer me this:" Faith said, her voice suddenly growing cold, and Ailyn heard the distinctive sound of a handgun being cocked. "Did you just use your relationship with Kira as a cover, or was it genuine?"

"It was genuine, but he will never forgive me for lying about who I was." Ailyn said sadly.

"Don't count on it. We know Kira, and he will forgive almost anything." Faith said, and Ailyn hear a pistol being holstered. "Let's get going. We need to get to those units and protect this colony. Besides, you have proven your loyalty to him by betraying ZAFT, just like us. He makes people want to forget about the war…and what has been lost." Faith sounded so sad that Ailyn turned around.

"What…what happened to you?" she asked tentatively.

"Cu and I…we're Coordinators too, just like you. Our parents were killed in the Bloody Valentine. We hated Naturals so much, we accepted a mission posting to the Moon for an assassination ordered by Chairman Zala, but….we met Kira. And his friends from the Moon. Over half of them were Naturals. What happened to you happened to us. We couldn't find it in ourselves to hate them any longer, and sp we went to Orb. There, we heard some things that made us…leery of ZAFT. Growing genocidal factions, things like that, so we joined Orb. And here we are."

Ailyn turned around and kept walking, feeling ashamed. She had brought something painful up to them, and she regretted it deeply. "C'mon guys, 300 yards to the hangers." She murmured, setting off at a trot.

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Factory District: Above Ground

Kira caught up with the blond and grabbed his arm. A blast of wind whipped down the tunnel, blowing the strangers hat off, and Kira looked on in shock.

"You...you're a, a…girl!" he exclaimed, the tactless words escaping him as his mouth betrayed his shocked brain.

"Yeah, what did you think I was?" she snapped back, but wrenched her arm out of his grip and started walking away before he could reply. "You should go back. There's something I have to check up on, ALONE."

"Easy for you to say! The way back is blocked!" Kira said, coming up beside her and looking around. Grabbing her arm, he started to pull her down on of the passageways. "C'mon, this way!"

"Let GO of me, you JERK!" she yelled, and Kira looked back at her, amused. She certainly was a loud one!

"Jerk, huh?" he asked, before noticing the tears in her eyes.

"I…I just never thought that we'd get…involved!" the girl said, half sobbing.

_None of us did. Why would they do this?_ Kira thought to himself, but aloud he affected a calm and reassuring tone, saying: "C'mon, there ought to be shelters left over in the next block. C'mon now, RUN!"

Murrue Ramius gunned down yet another ZAFT pilot, and felt a small flash of triumph, but it faded quickly. Most of her men were down, and she herself was almost out of ammunition.

Behind her, she heard a voice yell something. Whipping around, she emptied the last few rounds in her current clip at the source. Shockingly, the people who made the sound were able to get out of the way, and she felt a surge of guilt as she saw what they were.

"Those were…children?" she muttered. She shook of her guilt as they dashed towards the shelters, and she reloaded her rifle, facing forward again. Not two minutes later, she heard another youthful voice yelling for her too look out behind her. She slid down off of her perch, spinning around as she did, and heard several bullets spang off of her old perch, exactly where her head would have been. She emptied an entire clip into the ZAFT pilot that had snuck up behind her, and turned to look at the voice that had saved her life. It was one of the kids she had almost shot, a young man with brown hair. Nearby, one of her last troopers went down, and an opportunistic ZAFT attempted to charge forward. Drawing her pistol, Murrue dispatched him with a pair of shots, and then gestured to the kid.

"Get down here!"

"No thanks, I'm headed for the shelters in the next block!"

"There isn't anything left behind that door!" A large explosion from the door to the next block added punctuation to Murrue's comment. The kid dashed several feet down the catwalk, and Murrue froze in horror as the kid vaulted over the edge. That was a 30 foot drop! He couldn't possibly….her mental horror screeched to a halt as blank shock overcame her. Landing lithely on the shoulder of the 105, the kid rolled onto the arm, slid down it, and jumped onto the torso. Murrue's final soldier managed to take down a ZAFT redsuit, but was promptly gunned down in return as another dashed sideways, strafing the soldier's position, killing him instantly. Murrue spun around, firing her pistol at him while he fired his rifle at her. She missed him by inches, while his short burst bit into her shoulder. The ZAFT soldier worked his weapons bolt and then dropped it, pulling out a combat knife and charging. Kira ran down to the woman, wanting to protect her. He stood in front of her, and met the ZAFT soldier's eyes. The he stared in surprise. This couldn't be! He wouldn't be here, not as a soldier!

"Ath…run?" he whispered, and the soldier's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Kira?" he gasped, and the two old friends stared at each other. Neither could comprehend that the other was there, then, doing what they were.

Murrue took advantage of the pause to raise her pistol, pointing it at Athrun, who quickly hit his thrusters, flying away and over to the next unit, the X-303. He paused outside the hatch and watched as the Earth Forces officer pushed Kira into the mobile suit they were on, before jumping in and closing the hatch. As explosions shattered the hanger around them, Athrun climber into his unit, and two mobile suits broke their bonds and rose to their feet amid the flaming wreckage.

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_Second Chapter reposted._


	3. Heliopolis Besieged, Part One

Note that my Kira is still kind and gentle, but he is also more mature, thanks to Ailyn's influence. Since she has been trying to push him into joining ZAFT ever-so-subtly, she has been get his naiveté under control, resulting in a more realistic world view.

If anyone one was wondering why Patrick Zala was referred to as Chairman in the last chapter, that's because he is Chairman of the National Defense Committee, NOT yet Supreme Council Chairman.

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Gundam SEED: Journey

Chapter 3

Heliopolis Besieged, part one

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Miguel Aiman, of the Le Creuset team, was bored. He had hoped that there would be at least some excitement to this mission, but the only foes he had had to engage had been a few drones and a pair of missile trucks. It was almost insulting. He stepped carefully over the streams of fleeing people as he headed for the Athrun and the others had attacked, hoping to get some more action. When he was about ten yards away, the roof of the hanger exploded, and a pair of strange looking mobile suits appeared. One was emitting Athrun's signal, but the other wasn't emitting a ZAFT transponder, or any IFF signal whatsoever. Quickly adjusting his radio, he hailed Athrun's unit.

"Athrun!" he called, turning his mobile suit to face the 303. "What…?"

"The rest of the team failed." Athrun's voice came back, sounding both bitter and distracted. "The other unit has been boarded by an Earth Forces officer."

Miguel cursed angrily and eyed the other unit with loathing. Whoever was in there was a dead person, and if there wasn't enough of the suit left to analyze, then that was too damn bad. A lot of his friends had been in that ground team. He drew his sword, turning towards the other unit. Swinging his sword at it, he expected a swift kill, but the enemy unit's armor emitted a buzz that could be heard over his audio pickups, and the unit's armor turned white and blue as it raised its arms into a defensive X over its head, blocking his sword. Miguel's eyes widened as he leapt backwards. He hadn't even scratched it!

"It's a system known as "Phase Shift Armor"." He heard Athrun explaining. "In addition to changing the unit's color, it renders the GINN's sword effectively useless, while reducing the effectiveness of projectile weapons significantly as well. At least, as long as the power holds out." Miguel's rear cameras showed Athrun's unit turn red, before Athrun used head mounted Igelstelung CIWS guns to destroy a pair of EA missile trucks that had just roared around the corner.

"I'll handle this one, Athrun! You get that unit out of here and back to the Commander before it gets damaged." Miguel said, firing his rifle at the feet of the other unit, hoping to cause it to fall, but it just staggered sideways.

Athrun stared at the screen that showed the unit Kira was in, his expression agonized. _Kira? No, of course not. How could he be here? It was someone else, that's all. Someone similar._Athrun thought to himself, displaying the ever-impressive human ability to lie to oneself in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. He activated his thrusters and soared towards the harbor and from there a rendezvous with the _Vesalius_.

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Miguel, meanwhile, was busy slashing at the Strike with his sword.

"It doesn't matter how good your armor is…." He yelled triumphantly as he sent it reeling." if you can barely move!" With another blow, he sent it stumbling straight into a building. It picked itself up and dodged his next blow, backing away. Miguel grinned. He had it cornered now. There was another building complex behind it, so it couldn't back up anymore. He leveled his sword like a spear and thrust its point straight towards the cockpit.

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Inside the Strike's cockpit, Kira gasped. The rear camera's showed Mir, Tolle, Kuzzey, and Sai right behind them. If they fell or got hit, his friends would die. Time seemed to slow down as he watched the GINN's sword come towards the cockpit. Shoving the women's hands out of the way, he sent the Strike to one knee. The GINN's sword screeched off of his right shoulder, and he hit the thrusters, accelerating the Strike into a full force body slam that sent the unprepared GINN flying onto its back. Murrue was shocked. This kid had saved their lives and sent that GINN flying, and he was a civilian child!

"How did you…?" she started, but was cut off almost immediately as the kid spoke in an almost harsh voice.

"There are still people around here! If you're going to drive something like this, you need to make better use of it!"

Meanwhile, the GINN was struggling to get to its feet.

"This is ridiculous! How can they expect to run a complex machine with this kind of OS?" The kid gripped as he scanned the aforementioned OS.

"It hasn't yet reached the completion stage, it can't be helped!" Murrue protested, feeling a little insulted. Who was this kid?

"Please, move aside!" Kira urged, and she stared at him. The GINN was now almost standing again."Hurry!"

Kira brought out the built in keyboard, and his hands started flying across the keys. Murrue stared in awed shock at this teen who was effortlessly reprogramming top secret military hardware. _This kid…._ She thought to herself, a suspicion forming in her mind. The now standing GINN activated it's thrusters and charged. Kira glanced up from his keyboard and squeezed one of many triggers. His two Igelstelung, freshly calibrated, spat fire, sending a salvo of Vulcan rounds slamming straight into the GINN.

"What….?" Miguel cried in shock. All of a sudden the enemy could aim! He had to finish this quickly, before he ran out of power. He swung his blade in a brutal sideswiping slash, then gasped in shock as the enemy sidestepped easily, then lunged forward, one fist lashing out in a powerful blow that sent his GINN flying into yet another building. Kira didn't spare his opponent another glance but instead continued programming. Murrue continued to stare incredulously as he muttered to himself as he typed.

"Take the calibrations and reset the zero-moment point and CPG. Connect Control Module to Quasi-Cortex Molecular Ion Pump. Rebuild neural linkage network. Update meti-motor cortex parameters. Restart feed. Forward control, transfer functions. Correct for corealis deviation. Online!"

"What is with this guy? Now he's moving better!" Miguel grumbled, angry. He sheathed his sword, given its lack of success, and decided to opt for a longer ranged engagement. His first three rounds slammed home, rocking the enemy back on his heels but otherwise doing no damage.

Kira hit his thrusters and leaped into the air, flying with easy as he dodged the follow up shots from the GINN.

"Weapons…." He muttered absently as he brought the menu up. "Igelstelung Vulcans and Armr Schneider Combat Knives….THATS ALL THERE IS?" He shouted, before selecting the knives angrily. They popped out of their hip-mounted, internal bays and slid into waiting hands. The GINN fired on him as he landed, but he dodged every shot. The stray bullets slammed into the ground around him as he charged.

"Argh! Damn piece of Earth TRASH!" Miguel howled in rage. He was getting humiliated by a damn _Natural_, of all things!

"No! Don't do that here!" Kira shouted, as several bullets came terrifyingly close to his friends. "Stop it!" Lifting off, he flew straight at the GINN, dashing around its flank and slamming his blades into the shoulders of the GINN, instinctively knowing that this would be where the arm hydraulics connections would be. The GINN's arms hung limp as sparks flew.

"Damn it! Hydro's not responding!" Miguel growled, fiddling with his controls. "Argh!" He yanked on the handle that blew out the GINN's back panel while simultaneously activating the self-destruct. He flew away quickly on his pilot suit's jetpack, eager to get out of the blast radius. Murrue noticed his hasty departure and got an ominous feeling.

"Step away from the GINN!" she cried to the kid, but it was too late. The GINN exploded as its power core went critical, sending pieces of the mobile suit flying everywhere. Kira and Murrue yelled out as the shockwave sent the Strike flying. Kira, secure in the pilot's seat, was only shaken up, but Murrue, who was loose in the alcove behind the seat, tumbled across the cockpit. Her head slammed into its wall and she was instantly rendered unconscious.

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Inside the ruins of the main shaft, Natarle slowly regained consciousness as something bumped into her from the front and sent her drifting into the wall. She moaned in discomfort, her eyes opening as she tried to grasp her surroundings. Looking to see what had hit her, she saw the bloody corpse of one of the men who had entered the shaft with her. Gasping, and fighting down the bile in her stomach, she pushed him away and looked around.

"The ship…! Where's the Archangel?" she said aloud, before heading down the shaft.

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Meanwhile, outside the colony, a GINN raced away from the now-heavily damaged _Marseille-III_.

"We've lost control!" shouted the helmsman, and the Captain barely had time to scream before the out of control ship smashed into the side of the colony and vanished in a fireball as it crumpled like a tin can. Before the fireball had time to fade, the Moebius Zero raced past, pursuing the GINN that had downed it.

"Argh, can't we do something about this difference in battle strength?" Mu shouted as he locked on and launched his gun barrels, snapping of a shot from his main cannon as he maneuvered into position. The single shot destroyed the GINN's gun, and Mu opened fire with all four gunbarrels, blasting off the GINN's right arm even as it tried to draw its sword. It swiftly withdrew and he swooped off for other prey.

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On the bridge of the _Vesalius_, the pilot controller shouted a report.

"Olar has been damaged! Emergency landing! Fire crew to B deck!"

"In a single battle such as this, Olar has taken damage?" Ades said incredulously.

"From the looks of it, we have an unforeseen problem." Rau said calmly, still reclined comfortably in his chair. "A rather annoying fly buzzing about."

"Laser beacon detected from Miguel Aiman! It's an emergency!" called out the same controller.

"Hmm. If that weapon is effective enough to take out Miguel's mobile suit…" Rau said, pushing himself out of his chair and towards the lift at the rear of the bridge. "It's all the more reason that we can't neglect the last one."

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Murrue came to with a groan as she reached to cradle her head to try and banish the horrible headache that she had. She grimaced, however, when she moved the arm that had a bullet hole in it.

"Hey, don't move around too much. We gave you some first aid, but…" scolded a pretty young woman with clear blue eyes and brown hair from where she sat at Murrue's right side. Raising her voice, she called out over Murrue. "Hey, Kira! She's awake!"

"Great, I'll be right there!" she heard a familiar young voice yell in the immediate area of to her left. By the time she had turned her head-wincing the whole time-the young man from before was kneeling down beside her. He looked at her with concern, and her eyes widened a little. She hadn't noticed it before, but his eyes were a pale amethyst, and that in and of itself confirmed her suspicions. No Natural could have eyes of that color. She attempted to sit up, but the young man gentle laid a hand on her right shoulder to stop her. "You really shouldn't be moving, ma'am. Ath-erm, that Zaft pilot's bullet missed your shoulder blade and exited from your back, but without the ability to give you stitches we are relying on clotting to keep the wound closed. Move around too much and you will start bleeding freely again."

"Hey, have some water." The young women said gently, holding a water bottle out, which Murrue took gratefully with her good arm while the young man, Kira, propped her up enough so she could drink without choking.

"Thank you for that, I appreciate it, as well as the first aid." She said quietly after draining the bottle, leaning back heavily against the Kira for a moment before shaking herself and moving to stand.

"Easy, now. Earth Forces soldier or not, you need to be careful with that wound." Kira warned her, hands held ready to catch her if she stumbled or lost her balance. Murrue, reacting quickly at his words, pulled out her pistol and pointed it at him. His eyes widened briefly, then narrowed dangerously as he shifted in front of his female friend and tensed subtly, eyes never wavering from the gun. Murrue knew that the instant the barrel wavered in a direction that was not towards one of his friends or himself, he would be on her in a flash of Coordinator speed. "That's not too friendly; after I saved your life and Mirialia patched your shoulder up and gave you water. But then, what else can you expect from an Earth Forces soldier who is conducting illegal military affairs in Heliopolis and getting our colony attacked by ZAFT?"

"What I want to know is how you knew I was Earth Forces, and how you reprogrammed that machine." Murrue asked firmly, ignoring the guilt that bit at her when he mentioned saving her life, and his friend performing first aid. Now was not the time to be nice and gentle, it was time for answers.

"It's fairly obvious." Kira said dryly, almost sarcastically. "Let's see, the Mobile Operating System of that Mobile Suit had the O.M.N.I logo and name, ZAFT is attacking the colony…oh! And I recognizing some of the coding _because I helped create it!_Of course, I was under the impression it was for a project of Professor Kato's, but since he is Morgenroete, and Morgenroete help build this, I am going to assume that he gave you the rudimentary O.S. and was going to give you the refined versions as I finished them? Did I miss anything?"

Murrue blinked at him in shock, before nodding slowly. It all made a lot of sense, and she was rather embarrassed by some of the obviousness in the kid's logic progression. The fact that he was the whiz kid, one of them anyway, that Kato was always gushing about was surprising, but only mildly so.

"What are you planning to do now, Earth Forces officer?" the voice of the young women who had been next to her when she woke cut into her thoughts, and she looked around to see the hard glares she was receiving from all the students.

"You kids have been witness to military secrets of the Earth Forces. Until I find some superior officer to tell me otherwise, you have to stay with me. For securities sake." She replied calmly, although she had no idea where she was supposed to find a superior officer in all of this mess.

"In case you missed it," one of the other young men, a tall blond with glasses said a trifle coldly. "We're citizens of Heliopolis, and that means that we're neutral. So we don't have to do what you say."

"This is a military matter, so the military has jurisdiction. As it is, I can let you kids go if you help me with the unit and getting in touch with any Earth Forces personal remaining in the colony." Murrue snapped back, starting to lose her patience.

The students were silent for a long moment, all looking at Kira to see what he would say, as if he was the leader of the group. Which, it seemed to Murrue, he was. Hard amethyst eyes stared into her own brown for a long moment before Kira nodded sharply.

"Fine, Earth Forces officer. We play by your game, but we had better be allowed to go to the shelters soon. One more hazard level, and they will lock down, and we will be stuck out here." He said firmly, before gesturing to his friends. "I'm Kira Yamato. The girl who patched you up is Miriallia Haw, the blond kid is Sai Argyle, the bluenette with the hoodie is Kuzzey Buzzkirk, the curly haired fellow is Tolle Koenig. What do we call you, Miss Earth Forces officer?"

"Murrue Ramius, Lieutenant Murrue Ramius." She replied, finally lowering her pistol, although she did so slowly and without taking her eyes off of Kira. The young man mererly returned her look before turning and heading towards the Strike. "Where are you going?"

"To get on the radio and finish editing the O.S. while I can." He called over his shoulder as he placed on foot onto the harness and activated the winch, pulling himself to the cockpit and getting inside.

"What do you need us to do?" Sai asked quietly, and she looked at him for a long moment.

"The number 5 equipment trailer from that hanger over there." She replied, pointing to one of the few intact hangers left. "It will have weapons and a fresh power supply and charger for the Strike. After that, it depends on what else needs doing."

The kids scattered as she continued assigning tasks, and she turned to survey the wreckage that had been a peaceful colony before she and her fellows brought ZAFT down upon them. Shaking off her guilt, she sat down to wait\t for results to her orders. _It's unfortunate that their homes are in danger, their peaceful existence shattered, but for Earth to survive, it had to be done. These units were all we had, and now everything rests on the 105._

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"Geez, how many doors am I going to have to smash my way through?" Cu griped as the two girls stepped through the now-door less frame. "Honestly, talk about paranoia!"

"Just the way it is, babe, and being the big, strong man of the group, it is your unenviable job to open the doors for us pretty ladies." Faith replied, not sounding the least bit sympathetic of her lover's plight as she continued down the incredibly long passageway. "How much longer until we reach the hidden hanger, Ailyn?"

"Ten, maybe 15 minutes. Several more doors along the way, too." The ex-ZAFT spy replied, the corners of her mouth curling upwards slightly at Cu's renewed complaints.

The trio moved deeper into the hidden facility, hurrying as best they could, aware that hundreds of thousands of lives could hang in the balance.

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"Ensign Badgiruel!" Chief Petty Officer Newman said, floating up to join her outside the lounge containing the corpses of the deceased crew and command staff of the _Archangel_. "Glad to see you're alright!"

"Chief! Glad to see you as well. Come on, let's get to the _Archangel_. I have an idea." Natarle replied, glad to see someone alive, and Neumann nodded readily as the pair headed off down the access tunnel to the _Archangel_'s hidden hanger.

Fifteen minutes later, the same Chief Neumann was looking at her like she was insane. Something he had not actually ruled out as a possibility, to be honest.

"Ma'am, we don't know what condition the ship is in, and even if it is safe to start it up and launch her, we have barely a 5th of the crew we need, maybe a little bit more!"

"Just follow the computers instructions!" she snapped in reply, before tacking on a dig to get him moving. "You _can_ handle that, can't you Chief?"

Neumann merely gave her a cold glance before getting into the pilot's seat and beginning the long startup sequence, silently cursing the Captain and other senior officers for leaving him with nothing more than a wet-behind-the-ears rookie Ensign with delusions of grandeur. Hell, he could smell the Academy on her still, and he had been serving in the military before this war had even thought about getting started, as the numerous gold rings on the sleeve of his dress uniform coat attested to. Still, she had given him and order, and Chief Petty Officer Newman was going to follow them, even if only to show Badgiruel that he was the best at what he did, and didn't need instructions from a newbie like her!

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That's a wrap for now! Obviously, some things are changing from the actual anime, but all with good reasons. After all, if I make it to similar to canon, what's the point in writing it? Anyway, REVIEW!


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